OOPS

okus 5 erupted in a mass of furious flames and explosions as the speeding aerobus of Quand 12, its passenger no longer able to reach the panel or concerned about getting to the controls, smashed into the Likable Triple Cities. Balls of shudderingly searing mu-methane gas turned the occupants to scorched powder, and years of Saturnian colonial culture was etched away, layer by layer, by the ano-acidic liquefied cosmofuels stored there. It was only then, as Quand 12 ceased to exist in the Mokus 5 holog-caustic, that Unicommand officials began to understand the true mania of Mad Luigi.

The deals at that astropizza parlor back on Terra were no ravings of a would-be tyrant...preparations had begun, and he had already enlisted the unknowing help of the docile Carp Minority Tribe in that distant galactic colony!

As clouds of poisonous heated gasses extinguished the lives of citizen after citizen of the Triple Cities, ever increasing numbers of cosmofuel depots cloistered in and about the area burst into their song of terror and loathing. Imminent danger of death being an automatic override to the ‘All Stop’ order from the Emotosensor Command, a wave of cosmic horror swept across the reaches of the galaxy...awakening all manner of emotions previously kept in check by the strong leash of the Unicommand Emotosensors.

It was only this incredible wave of fear sweeping over the armed space trawler that keyed Mad Luigi’s own personality out of its neural quandary. With a chilling scream he leapt to the ship’s controls and sent it lurching past the Likable Cities, splashing -- none too gently, indeed -- into the Catafaulk Sea. Blood spurted from parts of his quantum-foreshortened anatomy as he fell unconscious to the floor of his disabled space vehicle.

Unicommand monitor messages quietly winked off the screens at the InterMutant Galactic Associated Malpractice League, belying the fierce energies that were ripping apart every defense, every protection ... in fact, every Saturnian development on Mokus 5. As mere eyebrows were being raised at Unicommand, literally everything was being razed in the Likable Triple Cities.

Although from deep space the side of the planet appeared to be blooming like quo-Tidiens on a warm ano-Spring day, the Karmora siblings froze as they watched the end of such a long hoped for experiment on the Right Side of the Universe.

By this time, new messages were flashing out of Oblivion Central, and the Emotosensors were placed back in operation across the galaxy. The aerobus pulled into an observ-orbit around what was left of Mokus 5, and a tear fell down Treflin’s cheek as she thought of the saturnity who had been lost in this foolish war.

"There is only one place where they can understand what has happened, children," she said quietly to Melin and Forsander, who were hiding under their seats. "Only one place."

She formed the two b’s carefully with her lips: "Boondock."

Only the roar of the still-exploding cosmofuel dumps could be heard as the full impact of Treflin Karmora’s fearsome suggestion was felt deep inside her siblings’ minds.

"Boon...dock," she repeated, as if not yet herself understanding what she had dared to consider.

And so, with Mad Luigi painfully rousing himself in his tossing space trawler hundreds of kilometers below, the aerobus turned to head for that most estranged of galactic entitites -- the Revered Elder Lassie ... of Boondock!

The Karmora Papers is Copyright ©1976,1993,1996 by Dennis Báthory Kitsz and David Gunn. All rights reserved. If you enjoy this book, an appreciation fee of any amount may be made to Dennis Báthory-Kitsz or David Gunn at Malted/Media Productions, 176 Cox Brook Road, Northfield VT 05663.

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